Hideki Matsuyama Holds Out to Win FedEx St. Jude Championship After Post-Olympics Robbery

Hideki Matsuyama nearly lost a five-stroke lead after a misstep at TPC Southwind on Sunday afternoon.

But thanks to two consecutive birdies at the end of the day, Matsuyama leaves Memphis with a victory.

Matsuyama held on to the finish to win by two strokes over the field at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday, the first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs events to close out the PGA Tour season. Matsuyama’s victory moved him to No. 3 in the rankings for next week’s BMW Championship.

Matsuyama, who spent the tournament with a substitute caddie after an unsatisfactory performance in London following the Paris Olympics, entered the final round with a massive five-stroke lead. He opened the week with a 65 on Thursday before shooting back-to-back 64s to open a massive five-stroke lead over the rest of the field — the largest 54-hole lead on Tour this season. He was tied with Denny McCarthy at the halfway point, but McCarthy, Scottie Scheffler, Nick Dunlap and the rest of the field just couldn’t keep up.

Despite carrying his five-shot lead into the back nine, Matsuyama fell apart. He went 4-over in a four-hole series after hitting his tee shot into the water on the par-3 14th and then doubled up on the par-4 15th after running into trouble around the green. That suddenly put Matsuyama behind Viktor Hovland and opened the door for the rest of the field.

But Matsuyama finally found his putter again on the 17th, hitting a 26-footer for birdie to move back to 1-over on the day and retake the lead heading into the final hole.

Matsuyama then added a birdie on the 18th after a perfect approach to get back to 17-under and complete his even-par 70, giving him victory by two strokes.

Matsuyama won a bronze medal earlier this month at the Paris Olympics. On his way back to the United States for this week’s event, Matsuyama stopped in London with his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, and his coach, Mikihito Kuromiya. One evening, as they were dining downtown, they suddenly realized their bags were missing.

Although Matsuyama’s medal was not stolen, both Kuromiya and Hayafuji lost their passports and visas, so they had to fly back to Japan to get replacements, while Matsuyama went to Memphis alone. Taiga Tabuchi, who normally caddies for Ryo Hisatsune, replaced Matsuyama this week.

Matsuyama has now won 10 times in his career on Tour and twice this season following his comeback victory at The Genesis Invitational in February. He began the week ranked No. 12 in the Official World Golf Rankings and No. 8 in the FedEx Cup rankings, which puts him safely into next week’s BMW Championship. The top 50 golfers in the rankings qualify for the second playoff stop, with the top 30 then advancing to next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

Xander Schauffele, who won the British Open earlier this season, tied for second with Hovland at 15-under. Scheffler finished alone in fourth at 14-under. Scheffler heads into next week’s FedEx Cup with a nearly 1,500-point lead in the standings.

This post will be updated with more information soon.